In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful
و الحمدلله ربّ العالمين و الصّلاة و السّلام علي سيّدنا و نبيّنا ابي‌القاسم المصطفي محمّد
و علي آله الاطيبين الاطهرين المنتجبين
سيّما بقيّةالله في الارضين و علي صحبه المکرّمين و من تبعهم باحسان الي يوم الدّين
You are very welcome, dear brethren, dear sisters, officials in charge of the huge propagation move of the people during [all these] years
and officials of those organs, which help the Council for the Coordination of [Islamic] Propagation and take such big steps.
I congratulate [you on] the birth anniversary of [the 11th Shia Imam] Hadhrat [Imam Hassan] Askari (Peace Be upon Him), which took place on a day like this;
and on the eve of the ninth [day] of [the Iranian month of] Dei (December 30, 2017), we venerate and laud the day of [this] huge movement of the people and
hope that the Almighty God would cover this popular movement and blessings arising from it
by His favor and His mercy and His acceptance and His blessings.
The important task of the Council for the Coordination of [Islamic] Propagation is to propagate [Islamic values]. Propagation has its roots in the Quran;
it is not something that we would have invented or have learned from somebody in the world.
The Almighty God says in Chapter Ahzab (Parties) [of the Quran]:
“[Allah praises] those who convey the messages of Allah and fear Him and do not fear anyone but Allah. And sufficient is Allah as Accountant.”
And [He says] in the blessed Chapter Ma’idah:
“O Messenger, announce that which has been revealed to you from your Lord.”
[Therefore,] the Almighty God has ordered His prophet to propagate and in the honorable verses of the Quran,
which quote various prophets as saying, the issue of propagation has been mentioned time and again:
[for example, the Quran quotes a prophet as saying:] “I convey to you the messages of my Lord and advise you.”
What is the meaning of the propagation? It means to convey. What is the meaning of conveying? [It means] to convey a message,
[and] a correct saying; this is the meaning of the Islamic propagation.
However, the condition for this propagation is that it [must] be honest, must be sincere, must be trustworthy, [and] must be responsible.
This is the [correct] meaning of propagation; in fact, this is the humongous task that you carry out.
In materialist governments – mostly in the West – there is also propagation [that is commonly known as] propaganda,
which is basically and fundamentally different from this [Islamic concept of propagation].
Propaganda meants to control people’s public opinion in order to acquire power, benefits, [and] money.
Fairly speaking, when it comes to this issue, Westerners are very good engaged, [and] are well-versed [in this regard].
They know [how to do] propagation in its Western sense – [that is,] Western propaganda – very well;
they make money [through that propaganda], [and] rise to power. By doing [what]? By controlling people’s public opinion.
[However,] this is not the goal pursued by Islamic propagation. Islamic propagation means to reach an understanding with people; control [of people] is not an issue here,
[but] understanding is an issue. [The goal of Islamic propagation is to] direct [people’s] minds toward a sublime and lofty goal and get their minds closer together.
What is the effect of this understanding? The effect of understanding is that people take responsible steps to do basic and benevolent jobs; [Islamic propagation] is [like this].
In Islamic propagation, rising to power, [and] gaining money are not goals,
[but] the goal is to make people feel responsible; [in this way, people] themselves will feel responsible, will take action and inevitably,
the result of such a huge popular movement [and] its benefits go to people as well. This is the meaning of propagation [in Islam];
therefore, it is totally different from what they do in the West. In that Western propaganda,
it is no problem to deceive the public opinion, it is no problem to do [theatrical] acting,
it is no problem to do things like film actors, [and] it is no problem to lie.
Anything that helps one achieve that material outcome is acceptable in Western propaganda; [however,] this is by no means [admissible] in Islamic propagation.
In Islamic propagation, honesty, trustworthiness, feeling of responsibility and the likes of these are totally necessary.
Well, this [will suffice about] the essence of the issue of propagation.
Naturally, when the public opinion gets active and starts to comment on an issue,
[people’s] bodies are next to move, minds are next to move, and initiatives enter the arena.
Naturally, in Islamic propagation, both opportunities and threats are explained to people;
enemies and friends are determined for people, [and] are introduced;
[and finally,] people are imbued with [a sense of] self-confidence. These [factors] exist in [Islamic] propagation.
You just take a look at the propagation that prophets did despite those difficult conditions that they experienced.
Under the most difficult conditions in the Battle of the Trench, when [Muslims] were digging a trench
– Muslims were digging a trench at an important side of [the city of] Medina – [and at a time when they] were hungry, it was very warm, [and] the Prophet [Mohammad] himself was digging with them,
Muslims reached a place where there was a hard rock and despite what they did, they could not move that rock.
They told the Prophet, “O Messenger of God! Here is a very hard rock and we cannot move it.”
The Prophet went there, picked up the pickaxe, [and] dealt a strong blow [to that rock] with the pickaxe
and a sparkle was produced as a result of that important blow. The Prophet then said, “I saw the Kasra’s Palace (the Arch of Ctesiphon) in this sparkle, which you will conquer.”
You just look! Under what conditions, [and] under the most difficult conditions,
the Honorable Prophet says ‘I see the Palace of Kasra, which you will conquer;
I see the Roman emperor – [and he said this] after another blow – who you [will defeat]. [This means,] hope [and] self-confidence.
Of course, the vision of the prophet is poles apart from that of the likes of us and his encouragement and reporting [of the future is totally different] from the likes of us;
he saw [what he said], [and] observed them in reality, but we [only] offer analysis.
Hope and trust must exist in any [form of] propagation].
The worst that may happen to a nation is to lose its self-confidence, [and] to lose hope in its future.
Dear brethren [and] dear sisters! Know that today, most of the enemies’ plots,
[and] this huge steps [that they take] is aimed at making the Iranian nation lose this self-confidence that it has.
Now, I will explain about this issue, [and] will talk about it. The important effort in the enemy’s soft war is aimed at
making the Iranian nation lose its hope. This [Quranic] verse that I recited – [which says]
those who convey the messages of Allah and fear Him and do not fear anyone but Allah –
shows that there are enemies [who are opposed to] this propagation.
[When the Quran] says “those who convey the messages of Allah, fear Him, and do not fear anyone but Allah,”
it is clear that [those who are introduced as] “anyone but Allah” form a front against these messengers of God, [and] those who convey the messages of Allah; this is about [some sort of] fighting [between these two sides].
Or in the other honorable verse, [Quran says]
“announce that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, and if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people,”
[and the Prophet is told that] God will protect you, [and therefore,] you do not be concerned, [and] do not be in fear of the enemy, which shows that against the Prophet’s [efforts for propagation]
there is a line of enemies and a front of enemies. Dear brethren [and] dear sisters! What does this mean?
It means that when you embark on propagation, embark on essential propagation, [and embark on Islamic propagation,
an enemy front is formed against this propagation [effort] of yours; you must know this.
Propagation is [in fact] a battlefield. Some people dislike the name of war;
[therefore,] as soon as it is said that an economic war or a soft war or a propaganda war [is under way], these people dislike it [and say]
“Sir! Why do you talk so much about war? Let’s talk about peace!” Well, the war [really] exists.
This would be out of our negligence that at a time when the enemy
has zeroed in on us – [and] the enemy front has targeted us to fire its bullets [at us] – we would ignore it.
Amir al-Mo'menin (PBUH) said, “If a warrior sleeps, the enemy does not sleep.”
If you fall asleep in your bunker, it does not mean that your opposite side and your enemy is also asleep; `
[on the contrary,] he is watching you, is keeping an eye on you, [and] is waiting for you to fall asleep.
One must not be in fear of the mention of war; well, [it is a reality that] the enemy is currently at war [with us]. The war is not a military war
– of course, [the enemy] does not engage in military a war and it would be a mistake if they wanted to do that –
but there is a war, [and] it is a soft war, [and] there are wars, which are more dangerous than the military wars; the enemy is at war with us.
Well, so, pay attention that propagation means to face the enemy; correct propagation means to stand face to face with the enemy of truth,
with tyranny, [and] with darkness; this is the meaning of propagation; [and] this is the truth behind propagation.
Well, we are close to the 40th anniversary [of the Islamic Revolution]; what is the meaning of the 40th anniversary? It is the fortieth anniversary of a phenomenon,
which has been able to change the structure of power in the world and shake it.
It is true [if you say why] that given obstreperous power of the world is still in place. Well, yes, we do not claim that
we want to do away with all the powers in the world – this job is not a job for us to do; one day this will happen,
[and] a divine hand will do this
– [but at the present time] it is our job to destroy the structure of power and the system of power, [that is,] the domination system in the world; and we have already destroyed it.
The domination system means that the world is divided between two groups of countries, [and] two groups of nations:
one group is the dominant group; [and] the other group is the dominated group.
We have disrupted this system [and] this wrong formula in the world.
We have shown that no, there can be a nation, which is neither dominant, nor dominated;
neither wants to bully anybody, nor wants to tolerate any bullying;
the Iranian nation has shown this in practice. Well, they write in books; thinkers [and] political analysts talk about such things;
however, there is a long way between books and writing [on the one hand,] and reality [on the other]. This reality was created by the revolution. The Islamic Revolution shattered [existing] structures.
[The enemies] did not remain idle in the face of this structure shattering [efforts by Iran]; since day one [following victory of the Islamic Revolution] hostilities started
[and have continued] up to the present time, which is about forty years. During these forty years, they have spared no effort to show all kinds of hostilities – now, you already know about them;
of course, these things must be elaborated for the new and young generation – including war, sanctions, insult, slander,
infiltration, conspiracy, security job, cultural job, [and] sowing discord inside the country
[and] everything that they could do by spending money in Iran. They were defeated in all cases. About forty years are going by.
If their conspiracies were to be effective, the Islamic Republic should have fallen one hundred times by now, q
and as they commonly say, should have been as dead as a dodo.
[However,] we have forty years of power now,
[because] the Iranian nation has been able for forty years to withstand [all] hostilities and wickedness and pressures and overcome all of them.
The Iranian nation went through Seven Labors of which other nations could not have accomplished even one labor;
do a comparison. Do you remember the Islamic Awakening? Certain movements got underway in some countries, [and] grand actions [were seen], [because] nations stood up, [and] moved;
[but] what was the final fate [of those movements]? Where did they end up? What did they achieve?
The Islamic Awakening in Arab countries – in North Africa and in the West Asia region
– led to civil wars, to domestic sedition, to fratricide, to religious conflicts, to ethnic conflicts, and they are still afflicted [with these problems].
This was the First Labor. They even failed to finish the First Labor,
but] the Iranian nation completed all these stages with power and dignity.
To bring down and uproot the monarchy was not a small thing, which was done in this country.
This country had grown [used to] monarchy for many centuries;
an absolute power with no respect for people, without reliance on the public opinion,
[in which kings were] free to do what they wanted [and] ruled what they desired. We had lived like this for many centuries.
The Islamic Republic, the Imam of the Ummah, [and] the nation that rallied behind the Imam managed to cut this root; it was a great job;
however, some of the steps, which were taken after cutting the roots of the monarchy, were even bigger than the original step.
Do you know what huge pressures has this country and this nation withstood to protect the Islamic establishment throughout these forty years?
This nation managed to tolerate [all those pressures], [and] managed to resist.
This comparison between the Islamic Revolution and these clamors and insurgencies and uprising and revolutions, which took place in Arab countries,
is a didactic comparison. [Even] those [nations] which succeeded [to change their regimes] – for example, assume,
like some countries in North Africa, which succeeded through struggling against France and the likes of these to gain their independence
– were assimilated in the culture of the same colonialist group [of countries] after a short while.
The prime minister of one of these countries – whose name I do not want to mention here – came [to Iran]; he had a meeting with me here when I was the president;
he started talking to me, [and] he spoke Arabic; he wanted to say something, which he did not know what was the Arabic word for it.
He asked that advisor and aide, who was sitting by him, [and] said its French word [and asked the advisor] what was the Arabic word for it.
Then he [the advisor] told this [prime minister] that yes, this is the Arabic word for it!
I mean, the French culture had dominated that country with such a firm grip that the prime minister of that country
could not speak Arabic, which was his mother tongue, fluently; [therefore,] they had to translate the French [word] into Arabic in order for him to know what the meaning of that word was.
These countries have been caught [in the grips of a foreign culture] like this; [and] have lost the way like this;
the same way that the Islamic Republic has been treading and moving along with strength for [about] forty years.
Well, such hostilities have [always] existed, [and] they exist today as well.
Pay attention: the important point is that at any juncture of time, we must understand how the enemy’s hostility is and what is it doing with us;
[and] understand the enemy’s plans just like a military war.
In a military war, if you could guess what the enemy’s plan is, you would be able to prevent it, [and] get yourself ready;
[then] you either put up a good defense [against the enemy’s plans] or undertake a preemptive attack; it is like this in a military war.
In propaganda war, in economic war, in cultural war, in security war, [and] in the war of infiltration
– these are various forms of wars – [and] in all of them this issue applies: you must guess what the enemy wants to do.
Today, there is no need to guess, [because] it is clear for any informed person. Thousands of artillery batteries
– [including] an artillery for the dissemination of lies, [and] an artillery for magnifying problems – are firing at this nation
in ways that exist today and did not exist in the past. We say this about the cyberspace,
[and] tell [everybody to] be watchful about the fire from the enemy’s artillery in this space; [you must] stay vigilant.
The enemy should not be able to take advantage of this space against your identity, your existence, your establishment, [and] your revolution.
They produce baseless figures, lie, level accusations,
demonize those personalities, who are popular – in whom people must trust –
[try to] cover up achievements of the revolution, falsify [facts], magnify failures,
weaknesses, and shortcomings by manifolds, [and] if they exist at one place, they generalize it to everywhere;
these are things that the enemy does after all; [and] these are what the enemy does; what for? Because the enemy has understood the secret of the victory of the Islamic Revolution;
its secret is people’s belief and people’s faith. They want to do away with this faith. Now, if they cannot do this among senescent people,
[they want to] eliminate this belief among the youths and adolescents and the new generation, so that, people will no longer rally behind this revolution and this establishment; this is the goal [of the enemy].
[Their goal is] to make people desperate, make people pessimistic, strip people of their self-confidence, [and] depict a bleak picture of the future;
this is what the enemy is currently doing.
Unfortunately, there is a group inside [the country] which is doing the enemy’s bidding;
now, some [of them] are aware of what they are doing, [and] some [others] do not understand and [just] do it;
[however,] it [is] exactly what the enemy does: making people desperate, leveling charges against this and that [personality], [and] making the enemy’s big lies
look true in people’s minds. These are steps, which are unfortunately, being taken by a group [of people] inside the country.
Those people who are doing the enemy’s bidding inside [the country] lack piety; their religion is politicized,
[and] instead of their politics being religious, their religion is aimed to pursue political gains.
Our politics must be religious, not that we use our religiosity for political gains, [and] for [the achievement of] mean and insignificant political goals.
These [people who do the enemy’s bidding] are like this; these people have no piety; they do exactly what the enemy does in order to bolster that given [political] faction, [and] undermine another faction;
to elevate that given person and bring down another given person. These are [some of those] steps, which are unfortunately being taken inside [the country].
Some of them do not have a medium, [and] some have a medium, own a news website, have propaganda podiums and can talk;
they do talk, [but] in an inconsiderate manner; they show no respect neither for God, nor for religion, nor for fairness;
[and they do] what the enemy wants. The enemy is very enthusiastic about this, [and] as soon as it sees that such things exist inside [the country],
as soon as these people inside [the country] talk, you see the same night, these [remarks] are widely reflected by the British radio and the Voice of America.
These [people] make the enemy happy, [and] these [people] make the enemy happy [by acting] against the nation and against the Islamic establishment;
[and they do this] at the cost of making people desperate, [and] making the young generation and the new generation desperate.
[This is] especially [true] about all those people who have control over all managerial capacities at the present time, or had control over them in the past; it makes no difference.
There are people, who one sees that either have control of all managerial capacities of the country
or all managerial capacities were under their control in the past, [and] then, as Western-minded people say, they play the role of the opposition.
These people, who control, or controlled, the country, these [people] have no right to talk [or take] position against the country;
they must [take] a responsible position, [and] must be accountable. I, who have facilities at my disposal,
cannot raise a claim [against the Islamic establishment], [but] I must be held accountable and say what I have done with these facilities.
[However,] it is not acceptable [for them that] instead of being accountable, they would come out and play the role of somebody who has claims against this, and talk against that;
people will not accept this. Now, somebody may think that they are making an effect on people;
no, [this is not the case, because] people are aware, they understand, [and] do not accept this state of affairs.
All officials of the Islamic Republic, from the inception of the Islamic Republic up to the present time, have provided important services [to the country].
Well, I saw this, [because] I have been there; I have been close, [and] have seen [what] services they have provided. Of course, they have occasionally done some damage too;
there have been both services, and damage.
Whatever services provided by executive and judicial and parliamentary officials during this period of time, one must be grateful to them, [and] be thankful;
most of [them] are providing service [to the nation]. [Of course,] the damage that has been done [by some of them] must be criticized [and] analyzed;
however, [it must be] fair and responsible criticism, not the one that is accompanied with insult and slander.
Both criticism and acceptance of criticism are obligatory, [while] slander and mudslinging are forbidden;
criticism is different from slander, is different from mudslinging, [and] is different from repeating what the enemy says.
Criticism must be fair, must be rational, [and] must be responsible. Demonization is not a feat;
[it is not right] that we come out all of a sudden and condemn this organ, that organ, this power [and] that power without any differentiation.
Well, any person, [and even] any child can pick up a stone [and] break the windows; this is not a feat.
The feat is when one says something logical, says something fair, does not talk for the sake of [satisfying] his own wanton whims,
for the sake of personal issues, [and] for the sake of gaining power; [they must] take God into consideration [as a factor].
[As the Quran says,] “Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart - about all those [one] will be questioned.”
You [must] know that what you are saying, is your action, which will be materialized in front of you on the Day of Resurrection and the Almighty God will take you to task, [and] question you [for that].
[Therefore,] It is not right for a person to say anything he wants because he just feels like saying it. Pretending to be revolutionary is different from being a real revolutionary;
pretending to be revolutionary [means that] one would act in a way as if they [are revolutionaries]. [However,] being a [real] revolutionary is a different task,
[because] it needs commitment, [and] needs religious faith.
It is not possible for a person to be in charge of the country’s affairs for a whole decade, [and] then in the next decade, to turn into the opposition for the country; this is not possible.
The 9th of Dei, which is so great, was [in fact] the nation’s answer to such gimmicks.
[What happened on] the 9th of Dei was [meant] to defend the values of the revolution, [and] the values of religion.
The steadfastness that I showed there was steadfastness to defend the election [results]. I clearly said that
some people were mounting pressure to have election results revoked, [and] I would not accept revocation of election [results]; I [clearly] announced this.
The argument is over the values of the revolution and the values of the Islamic establishment; [this argument] existed at that time [and still] exists today.
We must be very careful about ourselves, [and] must be very watchful. Imam [Khomeini] said [the main criterion] is the current condition of every person;
what does this mean? Imam was a wise man; it means that nobody’s integrity has been guaranteed up to the time they die.
[Therefore, every person] must be careful about themselves; [As the Iranian poet Hafez says] our viewpoint about anybody depends on how they end up to be.
You do not know what things we have seen during these [past] forty [or] fifty years since the beginning of Imam’s uprising – from [the Iranian year, 13]40 [or] [13]42 (1960, 1963) up to the present time!
[We have seen many cases of] rises, falls, sharpness, slowness, excesses and negligence;
[we have] seen many strange things during this period! [Therefore,] we must be very careful about ourselves.
One of those steps, which must be taken with regard to propagation, is to give answer to doubts instilled among people.
Of course, all our propagation organs must be watchful and careful and take action; the Ministry of [Culture and Islamic] Guidance, the Islamic Propagation Organization, the Office for Islamic Propagation,
all [other] organs, which are in charge and in control of communication and media affairs, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, [and] other [concerned authorities].
Everybody must be watchful; the enemy is constantly instilling doubts [in people’s] minds; [and they instill] accumulated and incessant doubts. These knots must be cut,
these doubts must be done away with, minds must be freed [of doubt], [and] be put at ease.
Our young people must not feel confused and bewildered. One from this side, one from that side
are constantly creating doubts, [and] constantly causing problems. The youth must be helped, [and people’s] minds must be helped.
Well, the enemy creates doubt, [and] magnifies [the existing problems].
Our enemies talk through their communication and propaganda systems in such a way that
as if their audience is a thousand times bigger than the audience they have [in reality]; they introduce a thousand people as one million; and pretend like this.
One must not be deceived by them, [and] one must not be deceived by this magnification by the enemy.
If these analyses they offer on the Islamic Republic – that this part of the Islamic Republic is in tatters, this part is in ruins,
here has been destroyed, this part of it has been devastated [and the Islamic Republic] has nothing more to count on –
if such analyses were real analyses, as I said before, we must have been as dead as a dodo [a long time ago].
From day one, they said that the Islamic Republic will be gone in six months. When six months passed and this did not happen, they said in the next two years,
[and now] forty years have passed [since that time]! Everybody must know that with the divine assistance,both in this stage and in other stages through God’s Grace,
we will bring our enemies, the criminal America and those who are in cahoots with America, to their knees
Our main enemy, which is the regime of the United States of America, is one of the most corrupt and most oppressive governments in the world.
It supports terrorists, [and] they supported Daesh as much as they could – [and] even now, despite all their hype,
as reports denote, they are once again covertly helping Daesh and Takfiri [terrorist] groups like Daesh.
[So,] they support terrorism, they support dictatorial regimes,
they supported the [former] Shah of Iran, they support the oppressor Saudi family, [and] they [also] support some oppressive dynasties in the region.
Can anything be more wrong and more corrupt than this? They support criminals, both those criminals, who
are committing crimes in Palestine, that is, the Zionist regime, and those criminals, who are committing crimes in Yemen,
where they kill a group of people every day.
They also commit crimes inside their own country, [and] mount pressure on the black people.
The American police kill black women, black men, black children, [and] black youths without any justified excuse,
[and then] American courts acquit them, [and] let them go free.
This is their judiciary [and] then they find fault with and criticize the judiciary of other countries and the religious judiciary of our country!
Of course, our judiciary is not free of problems.
Know that I am not unaware of the problems that exist in the judicial power or in the executive power;
I am perhaps more informed [of these problems] than many others; however, I see the bright side [of these powers] as well.
In Aminollah prayer [and] during praying, we say
“[O God! Help us] remember numerous bounties [you have bestowed upon us];”
people must remember the bounties of God.
Yes, we have corrupt judges, [and] we also have just and trustworthy judges; [therefore,] we have no right to negate the entire [judiciary].
We have administrative officials, who are ambitious, rude and craving for [more] money, [and] we have administrative officials who are clean and endeavoring;
we have no right to treat all of them in the same way; we must be careful.
In front of us stand these forces and judicial systems of the Western world – including America – whose prison conditions are catastrophic,
[and] problems they have caused their people are bizarre problems –
from bribery to other things – but they pretend in Hollywood movies and other ways as if it is a clean and impeccable system.
An example is what I just said: if a black person is killed in America, there is no guarantee
that his/her murderer will be punished; this is the [true face of] the American government.
Well, this [enemy] is in front of us, is making all its effort, spends a lot of money, [and] makes a lot of plans.
They are doing their best in order to be able to sow discord among people – whether political discord or religious discord, or ethnic discord,
or language discord. [They are doing their best]
They are also ripping off these rich [Arab states] around us and get money [from them], [while] also getting their help
in order to be able to do something against our country.
[In short,] they are doing anything they can, [but] through the assistance of God, their nose has been rubbed in the dirt
and [they must] know that we will continue to advance with power.
With permission of the Almighty God, we will make America desperate in all fields.
Those people who were wielding power in America before were not idle either, [and] they did a lot [against us].
[Former US president, Ronald] Reagan was both more powerful than Trump and wiser as well;
he also took practical steps against us, both using threats and hype. He was an actor, [and] his acting was better than this.
He took practical steps against us and they shot down that [passenger] plane of ours and took that step. Where is Reagan now?, [and] where is the Islamic Republic?
At the present time, the Islamic Republic has progressed many times more than the time of Reagan, [and] has grown in all sectors.
[On the other hand,] he is afflicted with the divine punishment now; his body has rotten and turned into dust, [and] his soul, according to our beliefs,
is being questioned before the divine justice; the same will happen to these [current American rulers] as well.
The Islamic Republic will stand on its feet with God’s assistance
and these [American rulers] will not see their wish for weakening or defeating the Islamic Republic come true.
Of course, some of them managed by using a velvet glove to keep some of us busy;
at a juncture, they managed to keep us somehow busy through their apparent lenience or by wearing the velvet glove
– which I said they had worn it over their cast-iron hand – but they were disgraced before long.
At the present time, the truth about evil intentions of the government of the United States of America against Islam and Muslims and the Islamic Republic has been laid bare.
We [must] know about those things that they can do; they impose sanctions [on us], [and] we must localize our economy,
make it endogenous, [and] turn it into the Economy of Resistance, so that, sanctions would lose their effects.
Officials [of Iran] must take the Economy of Resistance quite seriously, [and] do not suffice to lip service.
The Economy of Resistance is not compatible with excessive imports, [and] is not compatible with weak [domestic] production,
[because] it makes domestic production more robust. Governmental and administrative departments must prefer domestic products over foreign counterparts.
State-run bodies are an important customer in the market, which buy everything, [and] need everything;
they must prefer what is produced inside the country [to foreign products]. People must welcome domestic production.
All these [measures] defuse the enemy’s sanctions;
[of course,] these measures may not seem to be effective in six months or a year, however, there is no other real cure [for our economic problems] but this.
The same is true about propaganda activities [of the enemy], about psychological warfare, [and] about preventing infiltration [by the enemy];
[Officials] must take care not to allow agents of the enemy to infiltrate into decision-making and decision-taking organs.
They must not also take the enemy’s sycophancy seriously. They must not take seriously the [apparent] expression of kindness and expression of respect [by the enemy] and [the enemy’s offer] that let’s shake hands and let’s sit down [for talks] and the likes of these.
[They] must know what enemy wants to do. If you know these [measures that the enemy may take],
if we know these [measures], if you observe these [points], [and] if we observe these [points], know
that the Islamic Republic will continue its forward march
and these problems that exist – I know about problems caused by high prices and problems like inflation and recession
and various problems that people are facing with regard to livelihood and economic issues –
can be solved through the resolve of officials and
the Almighty God will reward this resolve, which God willing, will cut the [existing] knots.
O Almighty God! [We swear you] by [Prophet] Mohammad and Mohammad’s Household to guide us toward and help us with anything, which leads to your satisfaction and attracts your assistance.
Peace be unto you and so may the mercy of Allah and His blessings